What I Go To School For
Prologue
School days. They’re supposed to be the best days of your life. At least, that’s what my parents always said.
"Oh, what I’d give to be back at school again!" my mum would say. "No ties, no responsibilities, nobody to worry about but yourself."
Yeah right. I figured it was just a line all parents fed their kids to make them do their homework. Either that or my parents had gone to school on a completely different planet to me. How could they even remember what it was like at school? It was like, a century ago that they were there!
No worries? Huh! They should try going to the year 11 Prom and spending the whole night sat on their own in a corner, desperately waiting for David Blake to ask them to dance. Or having to sit their GCSE maths exam with a pounding headache after getting drunk at Vicki Pye’s 16th birthday party the night before. And worrying about having just turned 17 and still being a virgin…
At least at work you got paid. You work five days a week, nine ‘til five, and that’s it. Nice fat pay check at the end of the month, evenings and weekends free. Not like school where you spend your evenings doing homework and weekends slaving away stacking shelves to earn a bit of cash so you can afford to go out once in a blue moon. No, all in all being a teenager was pretty tough, and school was anything but fun.
The only things that made it bearable for me were my three best mates, Ali, Chris and Lucy. We’d spent the best moments of our lives together and I didn’t know where I’d be without them.
Me and Ali had been best friends since forever. Our mothers had met at parent and toddler group when we were still in nappies. We were inseparable, and knew everything about each other. In fact we’d often finish each other’s sentences because we knew one another inside out.
Ali was smart – far smarter than me. She’d always been top of the class, and I had no doubt that she’d go onto uni and do something brilliant with her life. She’d make an excellent doctor or lawyer, but she was never interested in anything like that. She excelled at languages and spoke French, German and Norwegian – hardly surprising as her dad came from Norway. She wanted to travel the world teaching English, and I didn’t doubt for one moment the she’d do exactly that. She knew precisely what she wanted, and more importantly, how to get it. It was no wonder she was the only one of us to have a steady relationship. She and Carl had been together for two and a half years, and were perfect for each other in every way. It was obvious to everyone that those two would make the distance and end up growing old together.
Then there was Chris. He was Ali’s twin brother so I’d known him forever too. I think our parents had always secretly hoped that the two of us would get it together some day. And Ali was forever trying to set us up together! But it was never going to happen. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he was cute, ‘cos he was extremely cute. His blonde hair fell in perfect curtains over his blue eyes, and he got these cute little dimples when he smiled. But the simple fact was that we knew each other too well. There was never going to be anything more than friendship between us. Although…we did have our first kiss together! It was in our first week of high school when we both realised that, to fit in properly, we’d need to have at least one proper snog to talk about. So we decided on the way home from school one night that we’d give it a try – just to see what it was like. And…well, I’m not sure you wanna know what it was like! Let’s just say the words sloppy and washing machine spring to mind! Typical first kiss really…there was no romance to it, and not even the tiniest spark between us. I raced straight home and washed my mouth out! That was when we decided that we were never destined to be anything more than just friends…
Lucy joined our friendship group when we moved to high school. I remember meeting her on my first day and hating her! She was stunning with her perfectly straight, long blonde hair, and a figure to die for. I didn’t think it was possible for anyone that beautiful to be a nice person. So it came as quite a shock when, a couple of days later, she approached me in science class. I was sitting alone in a corner - science wasn’t exactly my strong point, so I’d been put in a different class to Ali and Chris. Lucy marched straight over and introduced herself to me, sitting herself down and asking if I was going to Vicki Pye’s "welcome to high school" party. We went to the party together that weekend and were firm friends from that moment on.
Of course, looking that good meant she got more than her fair share of attention from boys. I’m pretty sure she got the majority of my share too! I’d heard rumours about her and practically every guy in our year at school…although strangely enough Chris had never tried to make a move on her. I knew most of the rumours weren’t true though. She’d quickly grown bored of boys her own age and turned her attention to older guys. As we prepared to move up to sixth form she’d set her sights firmly on Adam Maguire. He was in the year above us, and the captain of the under 19’s football team. Every girl in the school wanted to date him, but I knew that Lucy would be in with a far better chance than most of them.
Which brings us to the last person in the group – me. Sophie. Not the cleverest girl in school, or the prettiest, or the funniest. Just me. I never gave too much away about myself, and my friends reckoned I had an air of mystery about me. Of course they were just being nice, true friends as ever. The truth was that I had nothing to give away about myself, no secrets. I was just plain boring.
The way I saw it, I only had two things going for me. Firstly I looked older than I really was, so I had no problem getting served in bars or getting into clubs. I’d never once been asked for ID. And I had been known to attract older guys…not the kind of guys that I’d ever dream of dating in a million years though!
The second thing was that I had a pretty good imagination. English was my strongest subject and I’d always have my head in a book, whether I’d be reading or writing. I’d write about anything and everything…short stories, poems, and my treasured journal. It was all I ever wanted to do.
So that’s how I ended up writing this story for you now. Because it’s what I love doing…because I need something to fill the time while I’m sitting here waiting…and because I want to record the greatest story love has ever told…
Like I said, I have a good imagination!